4 Wonders of the Past
Subject Area
The World of Arts & Social Studies
Topics & Curriculum Links
types of building (Technology)
materials (Science; Technology)
places and countries (Geography)
sizes and measurements (Mathematics)
dates and events (History)
architecture (Art)
sports and other hobbies (Civics)
animals (Science)
Vocabulary
buildings; materials; places; animals; hobbies;
transportation; measurements; dates; numbers; countries
Grammar
present simple; past simple; question forms; adjectives;
prepositions; adverbs
Teaching Ideas
See also pages 6–7 for general ideas that you can adapt.
Or go to www.oup.com/elt/teacher/readanddiscover
READ & TALK Secret Wonders
Choose a wonder from the Reader, then describe it to the
class without saying its name: It’s in ... It’s a ... It’s made of ... It’s
... years old. Or ask students to guess the wonder by asking
questions, for example: Where is it? What is it? What’s it made
of? How old is it? Then ask students to do the same in pairs,
taking turns to describe a wonder. They can also do this for
wonders from their own country.
READ & TALK A Wonders Survey
After completing the last activity for each chapter, students
collect the wonders star ratings from the class. They can
do this by listening to each student giving their star ratings
in turn, or by collecting the information in a big chart on
the board. Then they calculate how interesting / beautiful
/ important the class thinks each wonder is by adding up
the stars. Then they make a bar chart, and they can talk or
write about the results like this: ... people in our class think
that ... is the most beautiful / interesting / important wonder.
READ & TALK A Wonders Quiz
After completing Project 1, students make up their own
version of the quiz and try it out on the class.
READ & TALK Wonders Posters
After completing Project 2, students present their wonder
to the rest of the class. They can talk or write about it like
this: The wonder is called ... It’s in ... It’s made of ... It’s ... years
old. Students then display the posters together. Students
can also research other wonders from around the world,
using books or the Internet. They can also create a timeline
to display the wonders posters in chronological order.
Students can then vote for the best wonder.
PHOTOCOPIABLE © Oxford University Press
Activities Answers
Pages 24–25  1 1 sun 2 mountain 3 stars 4 stone 5 circle  2 1 kilometer
2 metric ton 3 year 4 cemetery 5 study 6 mystery  3 1 5,000 2 45
3 250 4 80 5 4,000  4 1 They came from mountains 250 kilometers
away. 2 As a cemetery, or a place for studying the sun and the stars,
or as a temple. 3 June 21st.   5 free answers
Pages 26–27  1 1 bed 2 mask 3 jewel 4 tomb 5 coffin 6 king 
2 1 He was a king (more than 3,300 years ago). 2 He lived in Egypt.
3 He was only 19 years old.  3 Treasures: boats, jewels, masks; Places:
Valley of the Kings, Cairo, Egypt; People: Tutankhamun, Egyptians,
Howard Carter  4 king, tomb, valley, mask, king, coffin, jewels,
statue, tomb, door, tomb.   5 free answers
Pages 28–29  1 1 wall 2 tower 3 bricks 4 prisoner 5 soldier 6 war
7 moon  2 1 friends, enemies 2 build, destroy 3 high, low 4 long,
short 5 live, die  3 1 countries 2 enemies 3 years 4 soldiers 5 hard
6 stone, bricks  4 1 often 2 sometimes 3 sometimes 4 never 
5 free answers
Pages 30–31  1 1 rhino 2 gladiator 3 lion 4 elephant 5 crocodile 6 arch 
2 1 Romans 2 stadium 3 animals 4 arches 5 roof 6 city  3 1 500,000
2 1,000,000 3 80 4 50,000  4 1 They went to watch fights. 2 Gladiators
and wild animals. 3 To let people in and out. 4 Two earthquakes.
5 To build other buildings.   5 free answers
Pages 32–33  1 1 The caravans stopped at Petra because it had water
and places to sleep. 2 The palaces and tombs are built in the cliffs.
3 The caravans used camels to transport people and things.
4 People carried cloth and spices to sell in different places.
5 Earthquakes destroyed a lot of Petra, but you can still see some of
it today.  2 1 spices 2 movies 3 cliff 4 stone 5 earthquake 6 camel
7 cloth 8 palace 9 theater 10 caravan  3 free answers
Pages 34–35  1 1 statue 2 ocean 3 island 4 head 5 ground 6 coast 
2 They grow: people, plants, animals, trees; Things that we do: push
over, fight, cut down, transport  3 1 In the Pacific Ocean 2 It has 887
stone statues. 3 1,700 years ago. 4 Lots of plants and animals.
5 Big statues for their gods.  4 free answers  5 free answers
Pages 36–37  1 1 well 2 ground 3 dry 4 pyramid 5 games 6 dance 
2 1 well 2 water 3 god 4 pyramids 5 games 6 dance  3 1 in the past
2 today 3 in the past 4 in the past 5 today  4 1 About 1,600 years
ago. 2 The rain god. 3 The Temple of Kukulkan. 4 They played ball
games.  5 free answers
Pages 38–39  1 1 city 2 rainforest 3 rain 4 enemies 5 trees 6 monkeys
7 rich 8 mountain  2 1 false 2 true 3 true 4 false 5 true 6 false 
3 1 The king wanted a new temple. 2 People built the temple.
3 It became rich and powerful. About one million people lived
there. 4 There were wars. 5 People visit it.  4 free answers 
5 free answers
Pages 40–41  1 1 tower 2 garden 3 tourist 4 fountain 5 tiles 6 wall 
2 1 tree 2 ground 3 plant 4 old 5 prisoner 6 story  3 1 water, fountain
2 tower, castle 3 plants, garden 4 tiles, Alhambra 5 decorations,
walls  4 1 In the mountains in the south of Spain. 2 It is a castle.
3 About 800 years ago. 4 In the courtyards. 5 Wars and an earthquake. 
5 free answers
Pages 42–43  1 1 People: wife, Shah Jahan, son, emperor, Mumtaz
Mahal, father, baby; Things: tomb, fountain, jewels, stones, garden,
palace, prison  2 1 Mumtaz Mahal died. 2 Shah Jahan wanted to
remember his wife. 3 Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal. 4 Shah Jahan’s
son wanted to be the emperor. 5 Shah Jahan went to prison.
6 Shah Jahan died. 7 People put Shah Jahan’s body in the Taj Mahal. 
3 1 An emperor. 2 About 20,000 people. 3 Elephants  4 1 3 2 3 3 3
4 7 5 7 6 3 7 7 8 3  5 free answers
18 Oxford Read and Discover  ●  Teaching Notes 24